one big file - Social Watch

Missing Targets: An alternative MDG midterm report
conducted thorough and regular tests of water sources
for most communities with communal water sources,
either deep well or open spring. At most, testing is done
to determine bacterial content. In one foreign- assisted
project of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Region
XII that had a water system improvement project
component (deep wells and communal springs), sources
that had been the source of drinking water by the communities
actually failed water potability testing (done
by a private laboratory). Most of the sites tested failed
in terms breaching allowable metal contents.
The quality of water sources remains doubtful
“as diarrhea, a water-borne disease, remains to be the
leading cause of morbidity not only among the regional
population but nationwide.” 8
Infant and Maternal Mortality. Infant death
rate in the region is lower compared to national figures
although the figures for Cotabato City and Sultan
Kudarat (8.2 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively)
are higher compared to the rest of the provinces and
cities in the region.
Maternal death rates in the region are slightly
higher than that of the country as a whole. Both North
Cotabato and Cotabato City registered a figure (1.7
percent) that is double the national figure.
Malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight
preschool children tripled from 6.73 percent in 2002 to
20.44 percent in 2003, owing to a change in standards
between the two years. This means that two of every
10 children of preschool age have already been compromised
in the development of their motor and mental
skills. By the time they reach the school age of six, their
survival in the elementary level will be doubtful.
What the data suggest. The three indicators critical
in measuring poverty (poverty incidence, education
and health) in the region are not as rosy as Neda
Region XII suggests. Let us start with our assessment
on the attainment of MDG goals in the region with a
direct quote from the Neda MTRDP:
“…about four out of ten families are considered
poor and/or cannot afford, in a sustained manner, to
provide their basic needs for food, health, education,
housing and other amenities of life.”
Data and trends from the Neda RXII MTRDP
document have shown a significant decline in the attainment
for several poverty indicators. The summation of
these indicators: performance in both elementary and
secondary education and basic services and health (access
to potable water, infant and maternal mortality and
malnutrition among preschool children) and the trends
each indicator exhibits would provide us a snapshot of
the state of poverty in the region.
• Most alarming is the data presented for the
education performance for school year 2002
to 2004. Unless drastic changes are made in
the education sector in the region to reverse
the trends particularly in participation, cohort
survival and completion rate both for elementary
and secondary education, it is doubtful that
MDGs 2 and 3 will be achieved by 2015.
• Doubtless, large populations in the region have
access to water, but again data showed that
access of households to water dropped by 0.6
percentage points in only one year. Since most
of this water sources are communal (dug wells
and springs), the slight decrease might be a reflection
of the state of the environment around this
sources. Again, at the provincial level, we can
find similarities in the provinces with low access
(similar to North Cotabato municipalities with
low access to water), these are predominantly
landlocked areas within the region with a high
percentage of the land area in the uplands. Even
more alarming is the doubtful state of these
water sources. Again MDG 7 specifically states
access to safe drinking water. Again, if the slight
decline can be reversed, access can be attained;
but again, without a thorough inspection and
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